Topic: News: Coach Broz and lifters work together to reinvigorate sport

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Coach Broz and lifters work together to reinvigorate sport
By Sean Ammerman

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Weightlifting coach John Broz poses in his gym Thursday, Nov. 6, as student weightlifter Taylor Smith, 18, exercises his lift in the background.

Taylor Smith and Pat Mendes didn't know their own strength when they stepped off the van Nov. 1 in Provo, Utah, for the Utah Record Breakers, their first weightlifting competition.

Smith and Mendes were both standouts in the high school weight rooms of Green Valley High and Del Sol, respectively, but they weren't convinced of their abilities until the competition.

Lifting weights to add muscle is one thing. Lifting with proper form in the clean and jerk and the snatch ­— the lifts that make up weightlifting — is another.

"We had never seen anyone else do it except in the Olympics on TV," said Smith, a UNLV freshman. "We weren't sure what to expect, but I think our form looked better than anyone we saw."

Smith won the 232-pound division by lifting 232 pounds in the snatch and 276 pounds in the clean and jerk.

Mendes won the 232-pound and heavier division by lifting 276 pounds in the snatch and 353 pounds in the clean and jerk.

The performance earned both an entry to the Junior Nationals in March in Foster City, Calif.

"You can tell some people have the look that they have the talent to be good lifters," said John Broz, their coach. "I saw they had the talent. I know that by March, they are going to smash up some people."

Broz handpicked Smith, Mendes and a few other locals early this year to commit to serious weightlifting training.

Local weightlifter Val Balison, organizer of the local High School Power Clean Championships, was also instrumental in getting the team started.

"My first goal was just to find someone to train with," Broz said. "When I found out how much talent these kids have, I realized it would be a great idea to coach them."

After four months of training together in a small gym behind Sunset Park, the team settled under the name Average Broz, after their coach.

The team is anything but average.

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Del Sol graduate Pat Mendes exercises his lift Thursday, Nov. 6, at the Olympic-style weightlifting gym owned by John Broz.

Broz hopes to build the squad to about a dozen local weightlifters and help rejuvenate interest in the sport.

"The biggest thing is courage," he said. "It doesn't matter how big or small or how tall or short you are, you just need the desire."

Broz's training aligns more with European philosophy and the methods of his mentor Antonio Krastev — world record holder in the snatch — than his American counterparts.

Mendes, who won the Power Clean Championships as a junior and senior at Del Sol, said the training can be intense. He has improved his squat by 88 pounds in four months.

"My technique was terrible," Mendes said. "I just got technique when I met John. Working with him was a lot more different than I thought it would be, but I have gotten way stronger from it."

College of Southern Nevada freshman Rob Adell, a former Green Valley High football teammate of Smith's, has also seen remarkable improvement since joining in July. However, he was unable to compete in Utah due to a knee injury.

Adell, along with Mendes and Smith, is working toward an ultimate goal of making the 2012 Olympics.

"I love being the strongest," he said. "I would actually classify it as an addiction because I feel terrible when I don't work out and then I try to do extra to make up for it."